Through Our Eyes arc 2
by Naomi Shihoin
Summary: Watch as Ichigo rises through the ranks of the 10th Division, Abarai and Arisawa bicker between themselves and Keigo's genius leaves Izuru in the dust. Zabimaru isn't a pain in the rear and a Kuchiki attains her Bankai much earlier than canon.
1. A Tiger's Retribution

**darkmachines**: I decided to post this again. Remember it was originally called "Wrath of the Tiger"? The prologue will be the same and the first chapter will recap Arturo's battle with Soul Society, before we switch to other characters.

**A/N**: I have the use of darkmachines' OCs.

...

_**Arc 2: Extraneous Events**_

_**Prologue: A Tiger's Retribution**_

**(1895 A.D.) Las Noches, just after Suì-Fēng purified Ggio...**

"Welcome! What brings you here?" A being asked. He was a fairly muscular, handsome young man with short brown hair and blue eyes. He wore a standard customized uniform, which was a long-sleeved shirt with a black line starting at the collar and curving down to his right hip, white hakama and a black sash. His bone fragment was on the left side of his head, which looked like a broken gladiator helmet. His Zanpakutō was a katana with a black sheath, black hilt and a circular golden guard. "Did you feel it as well?"

"You sent him, didn't you?!" An older version of Ggio angrily walked in, with a scar over his left eye and long, black scruffy hair. He wore a similar uniform to his younger brother and his bone fragment was also like Ggio's, with the exception of his left fang not there at all and his right broken in half. His Zanpakutō took the form of two knuckle blades with spikes on each knuckle and a blade coming out of one end.

"It's 'Skullak-sama'! Don't make Skullak-sama tell you that!" Skullak's Fracción, Avirama Redder, barked out. The fact that a fellow Arrancar spoke so disrespectfully to the Primera riled Avirama.

"It's alright, Avirama..." The other Arrancar spoke calmly. _I know what's really going on here. Leo's distraught over losing Ggio_.

"Answer me..." There was a mighty burst of spiritual pressure and Leo was closing in on his Lord, having wordlessly released his Zanpakutō. His bone fragment had become slightly elongated at the back, with the saber-toothed fangs slightly more pronounced. Leo's white jacket became a black trench coat with white stripes and a hood covered most of his mask. His feet became covered in fur and were cat-like. Leo's knees and elbows were covered in black fur. The most noticeable change was the two wrist guards now had retractable forearm blades and black gloves with retractable finger blade claws. On the top side of the wrist guards was a small barrel similar to a hidden gun with a crossbow-like weapon on his back held by a holster. "Skullak-sama!"

"O-oi!" Avirama shouted, caught off guard by Leo's grief-fuelled rage. He and Findorr immediately closed the gap, taking Leo by the arms and restraining him.

Leo's roars were a combination of grief and rage; sorrow from losing his brother and fury at his Lord for sending Ggio off on a mission in the first place.

"Leo, I understand you're angry at me for sending Ggio off on a mission," Skullak explained as he stared at the elder Vega in his Resurrección form, Oculta del Tigre (**Hidden Tiger**). "I blame myself for his passing; the incident has angered _and_ saddened us all." He took a step forward and gently lifted Leo's head with a finger on the chin, since the Fracción had ceased his struggling and was listening. "But I need you to think cleverly on this." Skullak stopped momentarily as the other Espada and Fracción started arriving. Returning his attention to Leo, he continued: "I will allow you to go after the Shinigami who killed Ggio, _but_ Arturo is going to accompany you to keep the captains busy and because he has his own score to settle. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes, Skullak-sama," Leo answered quietly, lowering his head in shame for nearly attacking his Lord.

"Very well. You may go and prepare. Arturo will join you later."

Leo sealed his Zanpakutō and walked out of the meeting room, feeling very self-conscious.

...

**So that's the prologue; please review and tell me what you think. Some of you might like to know who the Espada are, as I've taken liberties**** with darkmachines' permission and used his ideas. The Alpha/Beta concept and a few other things will be explained in chapter 1****. Here's the list:**

**Cero Alpha Espada - ****Arturo Plateado**

**(Fracción - Wonderweiss Margela, Arrancar 77)**

**Cero Beta Espada - Yammy Llargo**

**Primera Alpha Espada – Coyote Starrk and Lilinette Gingerback**

**Primera Beta Espada – Skullak Tuma**

**(Fracción - Aisslinger Wernarr, Arrancar 17; Demoura Zodd, Arrancar 18; Asgularo Ebern, Arrancar 19; Luders Friegen, Arrancar 21; Cirucci Sanderwicci Tuma, Arrancar 12; Avirama Redder, Arrancar 22; Leo Vega, Arrancar 23; Findorr Calius, Arrancar 24)**

**Segunda Espada - Baraggan Luisenbarn**

**(Fracción - Charlotte Chuhlhourne, Arrancar 20; Aldegor, Arrancar 29; Nirgge Parduoc, Arrancar 27; Menis, Arrancar 30; Patros, Arrancar 28; Choe Neng Poww, Arrancar 25)**

**Tercera Alpha Espada – Tia Hitsugaya**

**(Fracción - Emilou Apacci Harribel, Arrancar 54; Toshiyuki Harribel, Arrancar 57; Franceska Mila-Rose Redder, Arrancar 55; Cyan Sung-sun Calius, Arrancar 56)**

**Tercera Beta Espada – Neliel Tu Jaegerjaquez**

**(Fracción - Pesche Gautiche, Arrancar 41; Dondochakka Birstanne, Arrancar 42; Yin and Yang Tachibana, Arrancar 37 and 38; Loly Avirrne, Arrancar 33; Menoly Granz, Arrancar 34)**

**Cuatro Alpha Espada - Ulquiorra Cifer**

**(Fracción – Orihime Cifer, Arrancar 53)**

**Cuatro Beta Espada – ****Tōshirō Hitsugaya**

**(Fracción – Momo Hinamori, Arrancar 62; Rangiku Matsumoto, Arrancar 64)**

**Quinto Alpha and Beta Espada - Nnoitra Gilga and Retsu Unohana**

**(Fracción - Isane Lindocruz, Arrancar 51; Tesla Lindocruz, Arrancar 50; Kiyone Kotetsu, Arrancar 52)**

**Sexta Alpha Espada – Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez**

**(Fracción - Shawlong Kufang, Arrancar 11; Edrad Liones, Arrancar 13; Nakeem Grindina, Arrancar 14; Yylfordt Granz, Arrancar 15; Di Roy Linker, Arrancar 16; Rey Tiburon, Arrancar 32)**

**Sexta Beta Espada - Luppi Antenor**

**Septima Alpha Espada - ****Zommari Rureaux**

**Septima Beta Espada - Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio**

**(****Fracción - Fran Santonio, Arrancar 36)**

**Octava Alpha Espada - Szayel Aporro Granz**

**(Fracción – Nemu Granz, Arrancar 60)**

**Octava Beta Espada - Rudobon Chelute**

**Noveno Alpha Espada - ****Aaroniero Arruruerie**

**Noveno Beta Espada - Gantenbainne Mosqueda**

**Decima Espada - Sayuri Yamura**

**(Fracción - Surippu Sutorimu, Arrancar 48; Burakku Wido, Arrancar 58; Earaza Redder, Arrancar 59; Airachind Spidex, Arrancar 88)**


	2. Current Occurrences part 1

darkmachines: Here's the first chapter. Hope you like it.

QueenPersephoneofHades: This is here for your viewing enjoyment.

1st Division:

Captain: Captain-Commander Yamamoto

Lieutenant: Chōjirō Sasakibe

2nd Division:

Captain: Ryuu Kira (acting)

Lieutenant: Shigeru Yadōmaru

3rd Division:

Captain: Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi

Lieutenant: Chikane Iba

4th Division:

Captain: Retsu Unohana

Lieutenant: Seinosuke Yamada

5th Division:

Captain: Shinji Hirako

Lieutenant: Sōsuke Aizen

3rd Seat: Gin Ichimaru

4th Seats: Matsuri and Fujimaru Kudō

6th Division:

Captain: Ginrei Kuchiki

Lieutenant: Sōjun Kuchiki

7th Division:

Captain: Love Aikawa

Lieutenant: Jin'emon Kotsubaki

8th Division:

Captain: Shunsui Kyōraku

Lieutenant: Lisa Yadōmaru

9th Division:

Captain: Kensei Muguruma

Lieutenant: Mashiro Kuna

3rd Seat: Kaname Tōsen

10th Division:

Captain: Isshin Shiba

Lieutenant:

3rd Seat: Rangiku Matsumoto

4th Seat: Ichigo Shiba

11th Division:

Captain: Kiganjo Kenpachi

Lieutenant:

12th Division:

Captain:

Lieutenant: Hiyori Sarugaki

3rd Seat: Mayuri Kurotsuchi

13th Division:

Captain: Jūshirō Ukitake

Lieutenant:

...

Chapter 1: Current Occurrences part 1

(1901 A.D.)

In 1851, four souls with high spiritual power arrived in Junrinan, the 1st District of West Rukongai. They were Keigo Asano, Tatsuki Arisawa and the Kudō twins, Matsuri and Fujimaru.

Matsuri and Fujimaru entered the Shin'ō Reijutsu Academy almost as soon as they were brought in by Captain Hirako six years ago – with Keigo and Tatsuki choosing to stay in Junrinan for a while longer – and the twins had successfully unlocked their Zanpakutō's names (Kotōmaru for Matsuri and Ryūjōmaru for Fujimaru) and Shikai states, surprising their teacher with the fact that they were the first dual Zanpakutō wielders since Shunsui and Jūshirō.

A miracle in itself that was quickly replicated by the 10th Division's 4th Seat, Captain Shiba's own son, Ichigo; when he entered Shikai, that is. His Bankai remained a single Zanpakutō.

*Flashback*

"Rangiku Matsumoto, I am handing the position of 3rd Seat to you, since you want to become stronger!" Captain Shiba grinned excitedly.

"Ichigo, my son, you have the position of 4th Seat, since Rangiku graduated first!" Captain Isshin Shiba was a tall muscular man with spiky black hair and brown eyes. As captain of the 10th Division, he wore a standard haori and shihakusho... with a cheeky grin on his face.

*End Flashback*

But the peace of Soul Society and Karakura Town in the World of the Living was about to be crushed.

...

Six years after their first meeting, the Alpha and Beta Espada knew it was time to strike. One would be surprised to learn that these Espada weren't from this dimension, having come from another dimension from the future and sent back in time by the Soul King to determine not only if this dimension's Sōsuke Aizen and Kaname Tōsen were to be brought to justice before another century passed and more Shinigami fell to Aizen's twisted experiments, but Arturo sought revenge of his own. When Leo opened a Garganta to go to the World of the Living, Arturo made a second to enter Soul Society.

As the Cero Alpha Espada appeared along with his Hollow army in front of the West Gate of Seireitei, he released a burst of reiatsu.

Seigen Suzunami, a current Royal Guard officer and former 5th Division captain before Senjumaru Shutara, couldn't contain himself. He knew rushing in would only lead to mistakes, but he was providing the Soul Society captains with back-up, even though it would probably be costly to his body. He focused his reiryoku into his Zanpakutō, causing violet-coloured electricity to surround the blade as he challenged the Espada.

Arturo scoffed and then responded in kind with La Negra, both charging towards each other, clashing swords. A moment of indecision later and Arturo pushed his opponent away, attempting to slash him again with his sabre. Seigen avoided it with a Flash Step and reappeared behind his enemy, aiming the two sharp points of his Zanpakutō at the back of the Arrancar's neck.

But he blocked it. Seigen couldn't believe what was happening. At the distance he was from the Espada, the latter should never have been able to turn around and deflect his attack. Plus, he blocked the lightning-enveloped blade with his bare left hand and parried it away, before generating a sphere of green energy in the same hand. However, Seigen was a Shinigami who prided himself on his great speed, so even at point blank range he was able to evade the new attack, by using another Flash Step.

Arturo was mildly irritated that the Shinigami had dodged his Bala at such close range, but noticed Seigen above him. The Officer unleashed a concentrated lightning bolt from his Zanpakutō, Shiden, but the Arrancar blocked it again with his bare hand. After sending the electric attack to his left, decimating a rock, Arturo waved his sabre upwards to meet Seigen's Zanpakutō.

Seigen tried his hardest to hold on, but the struggle was once again won by Arturo, who sent Seigen flying away. The Royal Guard member landed on one knee and glared at his opponent. Arturo taunted the Shinigami, asking him a question in a provoking manner. Seigen responded calmly to the provocation, before disappearing in another Flash Step and reappearing right in front of his opponent, with a hand on his chest. "Bakudō #61: Rikujōkōrō!"

As six thin, wide beams of yellow light slammed into his midsection, holding him in place, the Arrancar had the gall to ask what the attack was. Even the body parts that weren't struck by the beams were rendered immobile.

"Sprinkled on the Bones of the Beast! Sharp Tower, Red Crystal, Steel Ring..." Seigen moved away from Arturo and started the incantation for his next spell, which put the Espada on alert. Arturo saw the enormous orb of yellow spiritual energy forming in Seigen's hand. He realized he shouldn't underestimate it. "Move and Become the Wind, Stop and Become the Calm! The Sound of Warring Spears Fills the Empty Castle!"

The energy sabre that Arturo still held in his right hand dispersed, with that dark energy merging with the six beams of light, giving the Espada full control over them. "Hadō #63: Raikōhō!" Seigen fired the concentrated strike of lightning energy towards his enemy. At the same time, Arturo forced the six beams of now dark light to shatter, so that he could free himself to counter.

"Cero!" the Espada shouted, before firing a powerful blast of concentrated, light green spiritual energy from his mouth. The Hadō spell and the Hollow technique clashed, causing a devastating explosion.

"This is crazy!" Fujimaru exclaimed, covering his face with both arms to protect himself from the powerful winds and smoke generated by the explosion.

"Seigen Suzunami is able to match Arturo!" Matsuri stated her opinion excitedly, with certainty on her face, but there was another Shinigami who disagreed with her.

"You're wrong..." Sōsuke muttered, while he observed the smoke cloud that was hiding both opponents. Without warning, Arturo jumped high into the sky, getting above the smoke, looking for his opponent. Seigen appeared behind him and slashed downwards, but the Arrancar was able to dodge by an inch. As he looked down, however, Seigen disappeared again.

"Hit Fast and Hard, Shiden!" Seigen declared, once again from behind Arturo, as he pointed the sphere of violet energy that had formed between both sharp points of Shiden to his enemy. From there, many lightning bolts advanced towards the Arrancar, all of them hitting and electrocuting the Espada, who tumbled to the ground below.

"He's not matching him! He's beating him!" Fujimaru happily shouted, before he and his sister smiled at each other. Aizen, though, continued to stare at the battle with a serious expression.

"Hadō #1: Shō!" Seigen turned his right palm down to generate a more powerful force, which was used to push him back and, therefore, keep him in the air. Seigen then pointed Shiden into the sky and sent quite an amount of electric essence into the clouds above. "Aizen-fukutaicho, get everyone out of here!"

He's going to use it... Sōsuke realized, before he turned to the twins and every other gathered Shinigami who were fighting Hollows near Seigen and Arturo's battlefield. "Retreat! Get out of here or you'll all get killed!"

Multiple buzzes were heard as the many Shinigami, barring the twins, Rangiku and Ichigo, used Flash Step to escape from the impending storm.

"... Shiden Raikō!" The former 5th Division captain yelled, before a huge, violet-coloured lightning bolt fell from the sky, landing where Arturo was supposed to be. An enormous explosion occurred, with a pillar of violet energy erupting from the lightning bolt's landing place, consuming a large number of Hollows who were either too slow or too stupid to run away.

The twins shouted gleefully in unison, but were interrupted before they could start to really celebrate. "I told you already! You're wrong!" Aizen repeated himself, as he pointed to the new smoke cloud that was dissipating, revealing Arturo standing strongly with his hands in the pockets of his hakama. Parts of his clothes had clearly been burned away, but the Espada was otherwise unharmed. "He hasn't been fighting seriously. He wasn't trying at all."

"Was that your best attack, Shinigami? Am I right?" Arturo questioned, causing Seigen to growl lowly. "I'll take that as a yes. That's a shame, Royal Guard Shinigami. Clearly, I expected too much from you."

"Your problem is that you expected too less," Seigen countered. A pillar of lightning energy erupted around Arturo at that point, electrocuting him once again. "You're so overconfident in your abilities that you failed to see my Shigasumi reaching you."

"H-How? When?" Arturo asked, as, for once, he felt the effects of one of Seigen's attacks.

"Just after Shiden Raikō," Seigen told him, as he went to pick up his Zanpakutō, which he had stabbed into the ground after said moment. Only now was Arturo seeing how far away Shiden was from its wielder. "You were so focused on badmouthing me that you failed to see where my Zanpakutō was. And since Shigasumi is a slow attack, you would probably see it reaching you and be able to avoid it... if you'd been concentrating, that is."

"So what?" Arturo asked, before he laughed in a maniacal way. "So what if you were able to trap me? You won't be able to hurt me with such weak attacks!"

"I know..." Seigen agreed with the Espada, before focusing an amount of spiritual power around Shiden, enough to make Arturo's eyes widen. "I guess I should take it up a notch."

"What the-?" Arturo was lost for words for once, as he saw the enormous amount of violet lightning surrounding Shiden, to the point where it greatly extended the Zanpakutō's length, while keeping the blade's form.

"Kaminari Shi Dentatsu!" Seigen announced the technique's name, before lifting the giant blade of lightning by Shiden's handle. He then brought the sword down; causing the lightning blade to hit the electric barrier Arturo was trapped in, creating an even bigger explosion than the one before. As all the gathered electricity was used to cause that last explosion, the panting Seigen was left only with Shiden in his hands. "That move always takes too much energy..." He groaned. "Was I able to defeat him?"

"Grraaahhh!" A furious roar echoed throughout the battlefield, causing the remaining Shinigami to flinch. The raised smoke cleared to reveal Arturo with both arms spread to the side, so that he could maintain the dome of light green reiatsu that protected him from that move. There was still evidence of violet lightning sparking across the dome, obviously, he hadn't put it up straight away, but even those disappeared when the Espada increased his reiatsu even more, raising a pillar of it. The light green column of energy remained in that shape for a while, until it all gathered on Arturo's back, in the shape of wings. "Ala de Plata..."

"Damn it!" Seigen cursed his lack of luck as he saw Arturo taking flight. Once the Espada reached the desired height, he came down like a bird reaching for his prey, aiming his outstretched left hand towards Seigen like a knife. Having seen how hard and sharp that hand was before, Seigen used Flash Step to get out of the way. As expected, the impact of Arturo's hand hitting the ground was so strong that it created a considerable fissure in the ground. I guess I'll have to rely on the Shisuikyō to defeat him, after all... I'll need to buy some time then, but I can't do it here. I can't risk the lives of the 5th Division's men. Shinji wouldn't be happy with me.

"Running away, are you?" Arturo bragged arrogantly, as he saw Seigen running in the opposite direction to the West Gate. Rising to the sky once more, the Espada fired some Bala, but Seigen avoided them with a few more Flash Steps.

You may be stronger than me, Arturo, but with my speed you'll never catch me! Seigen thought, while he glanced over his shoulder at his opponent. As he raced forward again, he found Arturo already waiting for him a couple of metres away, something that greatly shocked him. The Arrancar thrust his knife-shaped hand in Seigen's direction, with the latter somehow able to halt his high-speed movement and avoid being impaled. The former Captain performed a back handspring, before using a new Flash Step to put more distance between them. That's not possible! He was back there! I saw him!

"What took you so long? Waiting for you was such a bore..." Arturo generated La Negra once again and disappeared in a burst of sonido. Unable to follow him with his eyes, Seigen received quite a deep slash to his left arm. "What's wrong? Don't tell me you can't dance anymore!"

"Shut up!" Seigen demanded as he tried to slash him with Shiden, but the Espada dodged effortlessly. The same thing happened again and again and again. Seigen couldn't touch Arturo, no matter how many times he tried to.

"Arturo has Seigen beat in both strength and speed," Sōsuke informed the four remaining Shinigami, the twins of whom struggled not to rush in and help their ally. "If the other Captains don't finish things quickly on their side, he will..."

"Don't say it!" The twins boldly snapped, causing Aizen's eyes to widen. "Seigen will not die!"

"Ahahah!" Arturo laughed as he sent Seigen flying with one of those spherical blasts of green energy, while the latter was rushing towards him. "That's called a Bala. It's like a miniature version of a Cero, only weaker and much faster. You can't even dodge these, can you?"

"Bring them on!" Seigen challenged Arturo to use one of his weaker attacks, in an attempt to buy some more time, while taking the least damage possible. Arturo fired an array of Bala, with Seigen cutting through each one with his lightning-enveloped Shiden. He continued to do so for a while, until Arturo started to fire them even faster. The barrage of Bala was too much for Seigen to cut through or dodge completely, so he was forced to resort to his Shikai abilities again. "Hit Fast and Hard, Shiden!"

"You thought your superior speed would save you. I just proved you wrong, Shinigami." Arturo mocked his opponent, after he dissipated all the Bala with his lightning bolts. Kneeling on one knee, Seigen started to pant heavily. "I guess I won't be able to have anymore fun with you. Time to turn off the lights... Danza de la Muerte!"

"NOOOOO!" The twins screamed in fear as they saw Arturo carve up Seigen in a more serious way than it had been done to them. Combining his enhanced sonido with his La Negra, Arturo started jumping back and forth from his position, while cutting through Seigen's skin with his energy sabre. Right knee, left thigh, left cheek, right shoulder, left side of the hip, right arm, upper back, right shoulder again, left pectoral, right thigh... It took just five seconds for all those cuts to be made and Arturo still continued to swing his sabre up and down on his bloodied opponent.

An orange-haired 4th Seat had seen enough. "Tear through the Night, Zangetsu...!"

…

A/N: Okay, so this is the real beginning of Through Our Eyes arc 2. This arc will have major changes compared to what happens in canon in these one hundred years.

I added in part of the plot line of Bleach: The 3rd Phantom and twisted a small part of Seigen's role to make him the captain of the 5th Division who came before Senjumaru who, back in arc 1, was revealed to be the 5th Division's captain before Shinji took over.

The movies Fade to Black, Diamond Dust Rebellion and Hell Verse, the Fake Karakura Town, Deicide, Zanpakutō Rebellion and Reigai arcs will all be included in this story. The Zanpakutō Rebellion and Reigai arcs will, of course, have my own twists and have some minor and major differences.

Arc 2 will end two months before canon, by which time a certain Kuchiki will have gotten her Bankai. I have surprises in store for Orihime, Uryū and Karin and Yuzu as well.

Danza de la Muerte (Death Dance) is a combo from the game, Bleach: Shattered Blade.

The Bala Barrage is Bala Bombardeo (Bullet Bombardment) and is the same one Findorr uses in the Shinigami VS Arrancar war in canon.

Kaminari Shi Dentatsu (Lightning Death Transmission) is of my own creation.


	3. Current Occurrences part 2

QueenPersephoneofHades: I fixed it, Persephone. Hope this one is the same.

darkmachines: Thanks for the review, dark. Much appreciated.

...

==Chapter 1: Current Occurrences part 2==

"NOOOOO!" The twins screamed in fear as they saw Arturo carve up Seigen in a more serious way than it had been done to them. Combining his enhanced sonido with his La Negra, Arturo started jumping back and forth from his position, while cutting through Seigen's skin with his energy sabre. Right knee, left thigh, left cheek, right shoulder, left side of the hip, right arm, upper back, right shoulder again, left pectoral, right thigh... It took just five seconds for all those cuts to be made and Arturo still continued to swing his sabre up and down on his bloodied opponent.

"Bakudō #73: Tozanshō!" Someone shouted the name of the defensive spell. A single point of blue energy appeared above Seigen and extended downwards in four different directions, creating a solid pyramid of spiritual energy that acted as a protective barrier for the former captain.

"It's alright, 4th Seat Shiba," a masculine voice called out to him. Ichigo turned his head, recognizing the speaker, but reluctant to seal his sword. "You can fall back. We've got this covered." Unwillingly, Ichigo stepped back, sheathing his Zanpakutō. _They better let me fight at least once in this war_, the captain's son thought determinedly.

"What is this?" Arturo mocked, stopping his Danza de la Muerte to stare at the barrier. "Is this a pathetically desperate attempt of yours to keep yourself alive, Shinigami?"

"That would be the work of my companion's lieutenant," Love answered, as he landed between Arturo and the Bakudō spell. Immediately after that, Chikane and Jin'emon landed by his side, with Rose being the last one to arrive.

"So we are the first ones?" Rose asked, as he stared around to see if there was anyone else. He interrupted his own action when he drew his sword.

"Calm down, Rose. You'll get into trouble if you let your emotions cloud your judgement," Love tried to settle his still-grieving friend.

"The Kira's are dead because of our inability to act faster. Don't ask me the impossible, Love," the 3rd Division's captain told him, a very upset expression on his face. The blonde's teeth were grit and the hand that held his Zanpakutō was visibly shaking.

"Idiot! You've experienced something like this before," Love started scolding his best friend. "I've known you for a long time; it's been a hundred years since that day I met you when you were naked in the bar. You've never let your emotions rule you in a battle before, so why now? What makes you think it will go well on the first try? That anger will lead to your fall, instead of fuelling you."

"You're underestimating me, Love. I would never fight someone like him without being in full control of myself," Rose responded, before placing his sword in a specific position. "Play, Kinshara!"

"Don't tell me I didn't warn you then..." Love sighed, before glancing behind him at their lieutenants. "Try to check on Seigen's wounds, please Chikane. Jin'emon, you're coming with us."

"Hai!" Both answered, before the captains and Jin'emon stepped forward to face their enemy.

"Will the three of you be able to give me a challenge?" Arturo questioned, before pointing to the former 5th Division captain. "I know he is an above average Shinigami. If you're weaker than him, you shouldn't bother facing me."

"H-Hurry up... Iba..."Seigen groaned, while she opened one side of the pyramid-like barrier, so that she could heal him. Her hands immediately started glowing green, as she used her Keikatsu spell. "Those three don't know what they're getting into."

"Is he that strong?" She asked.

"Strength is a minor problem. We would have a chance to defeat him if we combined our powers," Seigen told her. "His speed won't allow them to hit him, though! He's just too fast with those wings! He completely overpowered me!"

"Ōtoribashi-taichō and Aikawa-taichō are slower than you..." Chikane realized, causing him to nod slowly in confirmation. They won't stand a chance!

"Bala," Arturo whispered as he unleashed a bullet of energy towards Jin'emon, after the latter failed to slash him. The move was too fast for him to avoid, but Rose moved his Zanpakutō in front of the lieutenant to deflect the energy back to its owner, who simply sidestepped the attack. Rose then launched his whip towards the Espada who sonido-ed away from it, to avoid it time and time again, without noticing how the stretching whip was being disposed around the battlefield.

"Kinshara Sōkyoku #7: Tsukinowa!" Rose shouted, immediately after the whip completed a wide, circular perimeter around the Arrancar. As the captain unveiled the name of the technique, yellow energy flew from the whip towards the sky, creating a round barrier around the Espada. The only opening from which the strongest Espada could escape was above him, as the barrier only surrounded him according to Kinshara's perimeter and was left open on top. Rose didn't give the Arrancar time to think of escaping, though. "Kinshara Sōkyoku #8: Kagenshō!"

"Closing the barrier to crush me?" Arturo asked to himself, as he saw the golden whip constricting the energy barrier in his direction. A smirk appeared on the Espada's face, however. "Caja Cerrada Negación!"

"What?" A surprised Rose exclaimed, as he saw Arturo spreading both arms to the side and generate a similar, dark-coloured barrier around him that prevented Rose's from closing in on him. "You blocked my attack with a barrier of your own?"

"It's like a Gillian's Negación. You won't be able to break through it," Arturo warned his opponent. "I normally only use it to trap someone, but it can..."

"Hifuki no Koduchi!" Someone shouted, causing Arturo to stare upwards. Love held a large black kanabō covered with bladed protrusions, in a way that resembled a cactus, more than twice his height, which quickly became surrounded in flames. He brought it downwards, unleashing a huge fireball from the tip of the kanabō. The idea was to have Rose's barrier limit your movements, so you couldn't escape my Hifuki no Koduchi... but you ended up limiting yourself even more!

"If you think you have me defeated, you're seriously mistaken!" Arturo claimed, before he raised both palms to meet the incoming comet-like fireball. Love's attack, which had already entered Rose's column of energy, entered into the Espada's Caja Cerrada Negación and stopped on his hands. "See? I blocked the other Shinigami's lightning technique this way! Such a weak attack like this is nothing to me!"

"Hifuki no Koduchi!" Love repeated, before unleashing a new fireball. The second wave of flames clashed with the first one, causing the Espada to have more difficulty in holding them off and his feet to deepen themselves in the ground. "My attack is weaker than Seigen's Shiden Raikō. However, I can use mine as many times as I want in a short amount of time."

"D-Damn you! Ce..."Arturo started to charge a Cero to blast the flames away from him, but his concentration was disrupted when something touched his right leg, causing him to instinctively stare down. The flower-resembling tip of Rose's Shikai had emerged from the ground and wrapped itself around his ankle.

"Third time's the charm! Hifuki no Koduchi!" Love unleashed a third fireball, while Rose prepared to tap on the whip with his fingers.

Sick and tired of standing on the sidelines and watching while his fellow Shinigami took severe injuries, Ichigo disregarded Love's original instruction to stand down and charged in, raising his two Shikai above his head, having wordlessly released Zangetsu when Arturo blocked Rose's barrier. "Getsuga Tenshō!"

Rose's eyes widened in horror, but nonetheless carried on with his plan and tapped Kinshara. "Kinshara Sōkyoku Dai Jūichiban #11: Izayoi Bara!" Kinshara started to glow and make the sound of a strummed guitar string. The sound travelled up the length of the whip to the flower tip and created a vortex of reverberating sound that acted as a powerful shockwave. That combined with the giant ball of flames that Arturo was holding off and the energy released by the previous attacks, caused a powerful explosion that destroyed everything within a considerable area of the blast. "Did we get him?" He asked Love, reminding himself mentally to have a discussion with Shiba-taichō about his reckless son.

"Normally, I would say yes," Love replied in the most sincere way, while he landed by his friend's side, giving Ichigo a dark look, before focusing his attention back on the battlefield. "Today, I'm not sure..."

"They're actually doing a good job..." Seigen admitted, while Chikane stared proudly at the two captains.

"People say Ukitake-taichō and Kyōraku-taichō are the best Shinigami duo in Soul Society, but I don't agree with that," Chikane started answering. "They are indeed the best in combining their Zanpakutō abilities, but Ōtoribashi-taichō and Aikawa-taichō are far better overall. They don't even need to speak to know what to do."

"Not a bad analysis on your part." Seigen actually agreed, before their thoughts were broken by someone knocking on Chikane's barrier.

...

"What do you think, Kyōraku?" Ukitake questioned his partner, while they watched what happened from Jidanbō's shoulders.

"I guess with them here, we can run loose a bit and take care of all these Hollows. Don't you agree, Ukitake?" The 8th Division's captain didn't even wait for Ukitake's answer to draw both his swords and forming them in a cross shape. "Flower Wind Rage and Flower God Roar, Heavenly Wind Rage and Heavenly Demon Sneer..." After uttering the poem-like command, Shunsui pulled the swords away from each other, generating a bright flash. When the flash cleared, Kyōraku's swords had become a pair of huge, heavily-curved, black Chinese scimitars with silver edges. The hilt and tsuba of each were still the same as they were in their sealed form, but they now sported long red tassels dangling from the end. "Katen Kyōkotsu!"

"All Waves, Rise Now and Become my Shield! Lightning, Strike Now and Become my Blade..." Jūshirō grasped the sword with both hands, with the release command causing it to slowly transform into two separate blades. As the blades peeled apart, a large red rope-like chain at the base of the hilt lengthened and silver metal square charms attached to the chain started to fall until all five presented themselves. The blades became somewhat thinner than the normal Zanpakutō and the cross guards extended up the blades for about fifteen centimetres. Up twenty five centimetres from where the cross guards were, there was a forty five degree cut on the inside of each blade where a second blade jutted back down, while remaining parallel to the main blade. With the edge of the blades facing inward instead of outwards, the Zanpakutō looked very artistic and rather difficult to handle. "Sōgyo no Kotowari!"

…

"I understand that you're worried about what's happening over, but let's do what Ukitake-taichō and Kyōraku-taichō have started to do." Aizen told the twins, Ichigo and Rangiku; the twins of whom were unable to take their eyes off of the place where Seigen had been fighting in. "Let's finish these Hollows now, so that we can go there to help them."

Ichigo and Rangiku nodded, while the twins hesitantly answered with a "H-Hai!", before they finally looked away from the pyramid of blue energy.

…

"Taichō..." Jin'emon called to Love in a surprisingly controlled tone of voice, before pointing upwards. All who were near them glanced up to see the Espada looking down at them with a quite upset expression on his face. His white jacket was now much shorter and nearly sleeveless, after being burned away by the explosion. Not only that, the jacket was now open, revealing the Hollow hole in Arturo's chest. Most importantly, the Espada's left arm had been severely scorched. "It seems you were able to injure him."

"With all the energy we put into those attacks, it would be quite impossible for the opposite to be true," Love told his lieutenant, before frowning. "Let's just hope he isn't able to perform high speed regeneration. Otherwise, it will be a real pain to finish him off."

"High Speed Regeneration? Indeed, it would be nice to have that. I lost that ability when I became an Arrancar, unfortunately," Arturo revealed, much to the relief of the captains. However, he brought his right hand to his left arm and pressed his palm against it, causing it to twitch. "Demencia!"

"What is that?" Rose demanded an answer, as he saw the Espada's arm twist frenetically.

"A shockwave that will cause numbness to one's body part. It's the perfect way to fight without feeling any pain and a way of healing that is much faster than..." Arturo pointed to the pyramid where Seigen was, but his eyes widened when he didn't see the woman that had been healing him. Instead, a young man with long, dark hair was taking care of the former 5th Division captain.

"Gochūtekkan!" Five giant steel pillars fell from the sky, all of them hitting the Espada by his stomach as he stared upwards. The weight of the pillars brought him down to the ground, but Arturo was still able to move out of the way before he could be crushed under them. The Arrancar flew back to the sky, while the earth shook due to the falling steel pillars hitting the ground, and locked eyes with Chikane, the one who had cast the spell.

"I'm growing of all of you fleas!" Arturo furiously roared as he stared at the four that dared to defy him. The Espada opened his mouth as much as he could, generating a sphere of dark red energy in front of it.

"Wait! Isn't that a bit much, even for a Cero?" Love asked, as he felt way too much power in the Hollow technique.

Rose, however, didn't seem worried. "Can you take care of it, please Chikane?" He calmly asked his lieutenant, who drew her Zanpakutō.

"I'll try... Bring Over, Tokumaru!" Chikane let out the release command, causing her sword to glow bright blue, before it changed into the shape of a gourd that was half her size. It was brown-coloured and had light green cloth around it, some of which passed over Chikane's right shoulder and under her left armpit, for transportation.

"Cero!" Arturo unleashed a beam of energy of enormous proportions, in an attempt to destroy everyone around him. Shockingly, though, the energy beam was being sucked into Chikane's Tokumaru, with a red energy outline surrounding the gourd.

"I've never seen her Shikai before," Love admitted to his fellow captain.

"Tokumaru absorbs spiritual pressure-based attacks, but that's not the only thing it does." Rose pointed to the gourd, so that Love could see the red outline changing into a light blue. "It stores that power and converts it into Chikane's frequency, so that she can use it later."

"You're saying it's like Ukitake's?" Love questioned, but Rose quickly shook his head.

"Ukitake's sword amplifies and redirects an opponent's attack on the spot." Rose reminded him, while he watched Chikane absorbing the last bits of Arturo's Cero. "Her power is a bit more restrained. Chikane can only store the power she absorbs and use it in a certain kind of way afterwards."

I won't be able to _absorb anymore of it, so… Chikane focused the power inside her gourd and unleashed some of it to counter what remained of Arturo's Cero. "Tenran!"_

_"__Kidō?" Love asked, with Rose nodding in answer, while they saw the wind tornado blowing away what remained of Arturo's energy blast._

_"__You dare use my own power against me, woman?" Arturo asked with anger all over his face, before firing a new Cero. Chikane once again used Tokumaru to absorb the blast, but after a short while she backed away, with what remained of the Hollow technique generating a not too powerful explosion. I see… Such a simple trick._

_"__What's he doing?" Love questioned, while he watched Arturo slowly descending from the sky, until he landed on one of the Gochūtekkan pillars._

_"__Trying to draw us into close combat, I believe." Rose proposed the hypothesis, before trading a quick look with his fellow captain, who nodded. The blonde Shinigami extended his whip, which swirled around the steel pillar where Arturo was standing._

_"__Trying to trap me in another barrier? Like I'll let that happen!" Arturo laughed as he jumped from one pillar to the next, just when the flower tip of Kinshara was about to touch him. He then fired a Bala, which exploded right on that same tip. "I know how your Zanpakutō works, Shinigami! The tip is the only part of the whip that has reiatsu, since it's from there that your techniques start. For you to perform one or to stretch the whip, the tip spreads that reiatsu throughout the rest of the weapon. The less reiatsu the tip has, the more vulnerable it becomes. That's your weapon's weak spot!"_

_"__You found out how to deregulate my Kinshara's movements? You're smart!" Rose wryly praised the Arrancar for the discovery he made. "But are you smart enough?"_

_"__A Shinigami underestimates me once again." Arturo stated, before silently generating La Negra. He quickly turned around, just in time to block Love's Tengumaru, as the captain of the 7__th__ Division brought it down from above. "Two, I should say."_

_"__Not! I was just trying my luck!" Love answered with a smirk, which made Arturo's eyes widen. As he looked over his shoulder, he saw Kinshara coming for him once again._

_"__I think I know my own weak points a little better than you. At least I know enough to be able to quickly recover from those kind of attacks." Rose informed the white-clad Hollow, who parried Tengumaru with his energy sabre, before hitting a spinning heel kick on the tip of Kinshara, knocking it away from him. I hate to admit it, but he's actually pretty good._

_"__Expación!" Arturo gathered La Negra's energy into a sphere in his right hand, before firing it in a cross-shaped blast towards Love. The Arrancar's movements were so fast that the blast quickly reached the afro-styled Shinigami, while he was still recovering from having his giant kanabō parried away._

_"__Tengumaru!" Love loudly called for his weapon, before using it as a shield to block the dark blast, which was strong enough to knock him of the pillar they were in. The Captain was somehow able to land on his feet, while his kanabō released a small amount of smoke from the place Expación had connected with._

_"__What will be your next..." Arturo started to question, before Jin'emon appeared right in front of him and wrapped the Espada's arms under his own. "… trick?"_

_"__DO IT NOW, IBA!" Jin'emon shouted, just before Chikane appeared behind the Arrancar, whose eyes widened greatly._

_"__Sōren Sōkatsui!" Chikane generated blue spiritual energy at the mouth of her gourd, before firing it as a concentrated blast at her target, a blast much stronger than the original Sōkatsui spell._

_Chikane is putting all the energy she absorbed into that spell. This Sōren Sōkatsui will be almost as strong as that first Cero Arturo fired. And at that distance, he will… Rose's thoughts were broken, as he saw the last blue flame extinguishing. Oh no…_

_"__T-That... can't be!" Chikane started in disbelief at the green wings in Arturo's back, which were now much larger than before._

_"__That energy you used was my own, so why are you surprised? I knew the maximum amount of power you could put on that spell, so I just had to increase the reiatsu on my wings to an even higher level to block it." Arturo explained, while both wings of energy returned to their usual size. He then slowly moved his head to meet the man who was still holding him. "As for you…"_

_"__GET OUT OF THERE, KOTSUBAKI!" Chikane screeched desperately, but it was too late._

_Arturo drove his left knee into the lieutenant's abdominal region, causing the latter to release him. Having one of his opponents stunned right in front of him, Arturo swiftly waved his right hand, easily cutting through Jin'emon's sunglasses with it, before plunging the same hand into Jin'emon's chest. Ribs caved and shattered as Arturo clenched his hand around the lieutenant's heart, before the Espada pulled his hand out swiftly, Jin'emon giving a strangled yell of pain. Charging a Cero in that limb, the Espada put an end to one of the Shinigami opposing him._

_"__Jin'emon..." Love mumbled, before he was consumed in a blind rage. As he was about to rush towards the pillar from which he had fallen earlier, Arturo's words stopped him for a moment._

_"__Annoying... Fleas shouldn't be so loud." Arturo stated and then turned away from him, knowing the Shinigami was going to die. Chikane quickly rushed to help her friend, but the Arrancar grabbed him by his throat and threw him in her direction, causing both to fall of the pillar._

_Chikane held him with one arm as they continued to fall. She furiously looked upwards, being able to see Arturo coming near the edge of the pillar._

_"__Cero." Arturo fired a new blast of energy towards the falling duo, to which Chikane responded by putting her gourd in front of her with her free arm. I realized your weak point too, woman. There's a maximum amount of energy you can absorb. That's why you blew off what remained of my first Cero with that tornado and dodged the second. But I wonder now… What will you do in that position?_

_"__Sō… Sōren Sōkatsui!" Chikane tried to use the spell again, once the gourd was filled with Arturo's Cero, but the original Hollow blast didn't stop, as Arturo continued to pour more and more power into it. The first few blue flames were pushed back into the gourd by his Cero and Tokumaru was forced to continue to absorb the Arrancar's reiatsu. From the ground, Rose noticed that the gourd was starting to crack._

_"__Things are getting out of hand… Go, Kinshara!" Rose launched his extending whip once again, this time aiming for the lieutenants. It was their luck. The Cero destroyed Tokumaru into thousands of pieces, but wasn't able to harm them as Rose wrapped them both with Kinshara and pulled them away from the blast._

_"__I'll kill you, Arrancar!" Love furiously roared, as he came in range to strike his opponent down with Tengumaru, but the Arrancar kicked him away. Arturo then finally decided to draw his Fénix and used it to slash the pillar he had been standing on top until that moment. The heavy chunks of steel crumbled down, right on top of Arturo's three other opponents._

_I can't use Flash Step now that I'm pulling them! If I do, they'll be left behind! Rose realized, while he pulled the lieutenants as hard as he could, until he understood it was useless. In a last attempt to save their seconds-in-command, both Rose and Love used Flash Step to appear between them and the falling steel pieces, using their own bodies to protect them._

_"__Damn it!" Seigen shouted, as he saw a cloud of smoke being raised after the steel chunks connected with the ground. "How much longer, Yamada?"_

_"__I'm almost finished! Just a little bit more!" Seinosuke told him, while he did his best to not look away from his Keikatsu spell, as he had the urge to see if the others were alright._

_"__Taichō! Taichō, wake up!" Chikane pleaded with her captain, after she was able to get out from under Rose's dead weight. The blonde captain was unconscious, since a piece of steel hit his head and cracked it open. Jin'emon was also gone, his spiritual body having faded away._

_"__How could we have been so careless? … Crap," Love asked to himself more than anyone else, while he was unable to even get to his hands and knees. The biggest chunk of steel had struck his back and had probably broken one or two of his vertebrae._

_"__Why did you?" Chikane asked him, while on the verge of tears. "You could've left us and attacked him while he had his attention on us!"_

_"__What's the point… of a victory that tastes like defeat?" He countered with a question of his own, before losing consciousness as well. Above them, Arturo flew with his now crimson wings, as he had just released Fénix._

_"__Time to finally feed on some Captains, my dear." Arturo spoke to his blade, before coming down from the sky like a bird of prey. To his great shock however, he found nothing when his sword hit the ground. Looking over his shoulder, he found five Shinigami behind him, from which only three still stood: Chikane, who was holding Rose, with his arm over her shoulders; Seinosuke Yamada and Seigen, who was some steps in front of Love, who the redhead didn't want to risk lifting. "How did you take them away from me? Answer!"_

_"__We haven't moved from here." The surprised Chikane stated, without realizing the motive of the Arrancar's question. Seigen made a click sound with his tongue, before smirking, as he realized what happened and was probably the only one._

_"__I could waste time explaining it, but I don't feel like it." Someone spoke from behind Arturo, after the latter turned around to face the last remaining Shinigami. Staring over his shoulder once again, Arturo's eyes locked on a Shinigami with long blonde hair and large teeth, and who wore a regular shihakushō and captain's haori. He was wielding a strange looking Zanpakutō, with a large ring instead of a pommel that rotated around the Shinigami's hand without him actually gripping any part of the sword. The first few inches of the blade were covered by an extension of the cross guard, while the blade itself was straight and slim, with the tip ending in a slanted razor-like edge instead of being tapered to a point. There were also five holes along the sword's length._

_"__Who are you?" Arturo demanded to know, while the stranger's Zanpakutō returned back to its sealed state. In this form, it resembled a normal katana, with a red hilt and an hourglass-shaped guard._

_"__This reiatsu..." Aizen suddenly felt a greatly familiar spiritual power, before staring to Arturo's battlefield, many metres away from his own. Instantly, he recognized the arriving Shinigami. "That is…"_

_"__Shinji Hirako, captain of the 5__th__ Division..." Shinji introduced himself to the Arrancar, while showing his usual wide smile that disappeared midway through his sentence._

_"__Captain of the 5__th__ Division?" Arturo seemed genuinely surprised for a while, before an evil smirk appeared on his face. "Finally, someone worthy of my Fénix's touch has appeared. Would you mind releasing your Zanpakutō once again, captain?"_

_"__Not interested…" Shinji countered with a bored look, before stretching his right hand in Arturo's direction. "Bakudō #51: Katsujumei!"_

_"__What is this?" Arturo demanded to know, as Shinji generated a thick cloud of a sickening-green smoke that quickly surrounded the Arrancar. The blonde Shinigami immediately made use of a Flash Step to join his Division's former captain._

_"__Long time no see, Suzunami-senpai," Shinji greeted him, as soon as his feet touched the ground._

_Seigen's eyes smirked, causing Shinji to slit his eyes in annoyance. "Can I ask you a favour?"_

_"__It depends on what you ask for," Shinji answered, while he stretched his hands to both sides of his body. Then, they felt a slight increase in Arturo's reiatsu, causing them to turn in his direction. He had blown off the smoke with his spiritual power, not letting it take its true effect. "Oh man… At least he could've inhaled some of the poison."_

_"__Help Iba and Yamada in taking them back to Seireitei." Seigen instructed, without acknowledging Shinji's complaints. "Be especially careful with Love. His back injury may be severe."_

_"__What about you?" The blonde asked, with a serious look on his face to match the one on Seigen's. "You're stronger than I am, sure… but I know you've been taking a beating up until now. Sure you can handle him?"_

_"__I'll manage. Besides…" A smirk appeared on Seigen's face. "I'm not alone."_

_"__Bankai!" Someone shouted from behind Arturo, immediately getting everyone's attention. An explosion of wind erupted around the silver-haired captain and, when it ended, he held a pair of large knuckle blades, one in each hand. Both blades had a curved silver edge, which tapered off to an outward point on either side. Segmented purple bands wrapped around the entirety of his arms, much like armour, while a thicker purple band arched behind him, over his head, with its ends protruding from under his shoulders. Kensei Muguruma was ready to face Arturo. "Tekken Tachikaze!"_

_"__I hope you haven't forgotten about something, Muguruma…" Kiganjō Kenpachi reminded his nemesis, after landing by his side. "I'm going first!"_

_"__Is that Kiganjō? Damn… He's fatter than I remember him to be!" Shinji stated, while he locked his eyes on the captain of the 11__th__ Division. He then turned back to Seigen. "Can you still use your Bankai?"_

_"__No. I took too much damage to be able to use it effectively." Seigen admitted with a frown on his face. "But if you're suggesting that you should stay because you can use yours, forget it! No one is able to fight properly while your Bankai is active! Not even you!"_

_"__Fine, you win." Shinji finally conceded, before he walked to Love's side. Chikane and Seinosuke had already left back to Seireitei, during the small argument between the two friends. Shinji carried Love in his arms. "I want to see you back in Seireitei. We need to talk."_

_"__Sure." Seigen agreed, before drawing his sword from its sheath._

_Kensei delivered multiple punch-like blade strikes at an extremely fast pace, but Arturo continued to dodge time and time again, seemingly with no effort. A hard roundhouse kick from the right side followed, with Arturo blocking by raising his left forearm, which seemed to work fine despite the numbness he himself caused earlier. Kensei then tried a spinning kick with his left leg, followed by a second roundhouse kick, this time from the left side. Arturo blocked both kicks with his right forearm and then aimed a sword slash at the captain, who quickly backed away to Kiganjō's side._

_"__What's wrong with you? Tired already?" Kiganjō, who already had some blood dripping from the right side of his face, asked in his usual provocative tone._

_"__If you were able to even touch him, you would notice how hard his skin is." Kensei countered, while he seemed to be favouring his left leg._

_"__No time to argue, guys." Seigen advised both rival captains, while he landed between them with his Shiden already released. "I take it that this form is his most powerful one. His strength seems to have increased greatly when his wings turned red."_

_"__He was able to defeat you, Love and Rose without being this strong?" Kensei asked, before whistling in appreciation. "Man, we're up for a hard fight, aren't we?"_

_"__Not that I fighting alongside others, but we really have to take him down, so I'll make an exception today." Kiganjō spoke, before raising his claymore above his head. "Let's hit him with everything we have!"_

_"__His speed hasn't increased significantly, so we still may have a shot to nail him." Seigen pondered aloud, before swinging his sword in Arturo's direction. "Hit Fast and Hard, Shiden!"_

_"__Reigiri!" Kiganjō gathered a large amount of his purple reiatsu around his claymore and brought it down, unleashing a massive energy arc towards his opponent._

_At the same time, Kensei joined both his hands together and generated a large sphere of light-blue energy around the blades they were holding. "Ryūsei Gekido!" Kensei slightly pulled his hands back, before thrusting them forward, discharging a massive light-blue beam of energy towards his opponent. The three attacks combined into a single, gigantic wave of slate blue energy, which was easily cut through by Arturo's Fénix. "Great… Any more ideas?"_

_"__I got one... Get out of the way!" Seigen shouted, before he disappeared in a Flash Step. The two other captains stared in Arturo's direction, only to realize what he meant._

_"__Sōgyo no Kotowari!" Ukitake shouted as he absorbed the wave of energy through his left sword, directing the attack through the connecting rope. With the gathered energy now being stronger and faster than it originally was, Ukitake fired it from the right sword, towards Arturo. The Arrancar again cut through the technique, but this time he found that something considerably more difficult to do than before. "It seems we arrived just in time."_

_"__Your timing couldn't have been better… guys!" Seigen agreed with Ukitake's words, as soon as he and the other two that had been fighting alongside him landed by the side of not only the white-haired captain, but every other high-ranking officer available in Seireitei and the World of the Living. The list included illustrious names like Shunsui Kyōraku, Ginrei Kuchiki and even the Captain-Commander, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto._

_"__I believe my orders were to not engage Arturo directly, Muguruma and Kiganjō. You'll suffer the consequences after he is dealt with." Yamamoto scolded the two captains, who didn't dare to answer back. The oldest Shinigami then turned in Arturo's direction. "I believe it's time to end this once and for all, Arturo!"_

_"__It seems like it. For all of you to come out here must mean that you have resigned yourselves to die and feed my Fénix." Arturo pointed his sword to the small Shinigami army, before chuckling. "Seriously, what can you do against me?"_

_"__They haven't started yet!" Someone spoke from behind the Shinigami group. Everyone started to spread to the sides, so that they could allow Kisuke Urahara, Yoruichi Shihōin and Tessai Tsukabishi to pass. "It seems we have arrived just in time."_

_"__Hai." The person who came along with Urahara's group agreed with his words, while she followed them. The red-haired woman and the mirror-like artefact that she was holding in both her hands became visible to everyone._

_"__Konoka Suzunami?" The shocked Kudō twins shouted, as their hearts fell to the floor._

_"__Konoka?" Seigen asked, as confused as the twins were. His sister's presence in the battlefield couldn't mean anything good._

_Indeed, that would prove to be true…_

...

**A/N**: There were a lot of new techniques in this chapter, so I'll list them down below. Also, for this universe at least, if a captain or lieutenant has entered Bankai they are still able to use Shikai attacks. That should have happened in canon, as well.

- Kinshara Sōkyoku #7: Tsukinowa (means ring around the moon); after performing a circular perimeter with Kinshara, Rose raises a yellow energy barrier to trap his opponent. The barrier is open on top, which is the only way for those who are trapped to escape.

- Kinshara Sōkyoku #8: Kagenshō (means last quarter); Rose forces Tsukinowa to close on the opponent, crushing them between the generated yellow energy.

- Caja Cerrada Negación – means "closed negation box"; a more battle-oriented version of the Negación move used by Gillians. Arturo can summon a powerful circular-shaped spatial prison of black energy to trap his opponents. It's as resistant as the original and can also be used as a shield. The technique comes from Bleach: Shattered Blade.

- Demencia – the staff who made Bleach: The 3rd Phantom made a translation mistake, giving the plotline the word dementia, when the correct Spanish word is aforementioned. This technique's ability cures all status ailments and consists of a shockwave that will cause numbness to one's body part. That way, the user won't feel anything on that body part and can continue to use it in their fight. However, the limb will continue to suffer the effects of burns, electrical shocks, poison, etc. and may reach a point where the user may not be able to use it anymore, even though they don't feel anything.

- Bring Over, Tokumaru – Yobiyoseru, Tokumaru (means Bring Over, The Virtuous); it is based on Kohaku no Johei, one of the Five Treasures of Great King Kinkaku and Great King Ginkaku from "Journey to the West". In that story, Kohaku no Johei trapped the user's enemy and transformed it into sake. Chikane traps the user's energy and transforms it into her own.

- Expación – means "atonement". This is the cross-shaped blast that Arturo uses in Bleach: The 3rd Phantom and Bleach: Shattered Blade. It was named in 3rd Phantom as one of Ulquiorra's moves.

- Mano de Hierro – means "iron hand". It's the move where Arrancar use their hands as blades after sharpening their hierro.

- Bakudō #51: Katsujumei – it was named in Bleach: 3rd Phantom as a poisonous version of #21: Sekienton.

- Reigiri – means "spiritual slash"; it's another move we've seen throughout the anime, where someone unleashes an arc of reiatsu by swinging their sword. Notable users include Zaraki Kenpachi, Shinji Hirako and Muramasa.

- Ryūsei Gekido – means "raging meteor"; it's an improved version of Bakudantsuki, which Kensei uses in his Shikai.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Arc 3 will take place from the end of the Soul Society arc and will include the Zanpakutō Rebellion arc (fanon; Muramasa, the rogue Zanpakutō, deliberately freed the Zanpakutō spirits of the Shinigami and began his chaotic escapade through SS).

Arc 4 will be the Diamond Dust Rebellion and Arrancar arcs (fanon/canon; Tōshirō was confronted by his dead Academy friend, Sōjirō, who stole the King's Seal and had a grudge against SS/the first time Ulquiorra and Yammy come to the living world, followed by Grimmjow's night time attack).

Arc 5 will be the Hueco Mundo and Fake Karakura Town arcs (canon; Ichigo and friends invade Hueco Mundo to rescue Orihime/Aizen and Kaname raid fake Karakura Town and fight the SS forces).

Arc 6 will be the Deicide arc (canon; still unfinished and loose story ending by Tite Kubo… my story will divert from this point — Aizen gained the Hōgyoku's power and started his ascension towards god path, but ultimately lost).

Arcs 7 and 8 will be the Hell Verse and Reigai arcs.

Arc 9 will be the Quincy Thousand Year Blood War arc.


	4. Current Occurrences part 3

darkmachines: The battle is getting exciting alright. The rest of the Espada are in Las Noches and won't interfere under any circumstances but, yes, Skullak is a step ahead. With this section, part 3, chapter 1 starts drawing to a close, finishing in part 4.

Hylla: Byakuya comes in soon enough, but not as a fighter. I'm glad your interest is piqued. All the arcs have been planned out, yes. I look forward to putting my own spin on them.

...

Chapter 1: Current Occurrences part 3

"Konoka?" Seigen asked, as confused as the children were. His sister's presence in the battlefield couldn't mean anything good. "What are you doing here?"

"You've always been taking care of me, Seigen." Konoka reminded him, with her usual kind smile on her face. She then closed her eyes and released the mirror in her hands. The mirror didn't fall though, as it remained floating in front of her. The central, glass part of the mirror started to glow, before some smoke started to come out of it. "Now it's time for me to help you."

"That is…" Arturo's eyes widened greatly, before the most enraged look that the Shinigami ever saw from him appeared on his face. "No! It couldn't be!"

"Ah yes… I guess you have seen it once before." Urahara stared to the mirror for a moment, before looking back to Arturo. "As you may have assumed, we're here to take your Spiritual Power."

"Is that…the Shisuikyō?" Seigen asked, to which Urahara answered with a nod. "Are you sure you want to do this, Konoka?"

"Yes, there's no need to worry." She calmly answered, before opening her eyes. "I know you'll keep me safe, Seigen. Just to do what you have to do."

"I hope you know the consequences of what you're doing here!" Arturo furiously shouted, before his wings started to glow more intensely. "If you take my power, I will simply have to kill more Shinigami to regain it! Fall victim to my Fénix, Shinigami!"

"It's time." Yamamoto whispered, before he suddenly opened his eyes, with a most fierce look on them. "All personnel execute an all-out attack on Arturo!"

...

"Ahahahah! It seems you're in a bad spot, Arturo." Baraggan spoke from high above the battlefield, from where he had been watching the battle, before he opened a Garganta to return to Hueco Mundo. The Arrancar was already too much busy in fending off his opponents to listen to the Skull Emperor. "I may not get Soul Society, but your death will be more than enough for me today."

...

Kensei launched a new punch assault, which was easily dodged by the green-haired Hollow. Yoruichi interfered in the confrontation and aimed a kick to his head, but Arturo backed away from them both. 13 members of the Onmitsukidō's Executive Militia surrounded Arturo and attempted to stab him from all possible angles.

"How pitiful…" The Arrancar stated as all 13 swords stopped when they hit his body. He then swung his Fénix, immediately killing the two Shinigami who were right in front of him. "Did you really think you could hurt me with such puny spiritual powers?"

"Kōburitsuchi!" After Arturo killed three more, Marenoshin came flying from above and slammed his mace down on the Shinigami killer, who simply sidestepped him. As the Vice-Captain tried to attack him a second time, after opening a small crater on his first try, Arturo drove his right heel into his abdominal region, sending him flying away. Marenoshin only stopped when he crashed through the wall at the right side of Jidanbō's gate.

"Is that how much strong he becomes after absorbing another person's power?" The shocked Kensei asked as he stared in Marenoshin's direction. Seeing as her men were still in danger for being so near Arturo, Yoruichi quickly charged forward.

"Move!" The Onmitsukidō leader ordered the surviving Executive Militia members, before thrusting a sphere of condensed yellow energy in Arturo's direction. Yoruichi's enemy jumped away from her and the sphere hit the ground, causing quite an explosion considering the sphere's size. "His speed is at my level! Now I understand why Suzunami took such a beating."

"Ryūsei Gekido!" Bringing both knuckle blades together, Kensei appeared behind the midair Arturo and unleashed the powerful energy blast, only for the Arrancar to quickly turn around and deflect it with his sword. The blast was sent some Districts away from the battlefield, causing it to explode in the form of an expanding, light blue dome. "Damn it! The old man was right in evacuating the nearby Districts…"

"C'mon guys! Let's just throw everything we have at him!" Seigen shouted, while he generated violet lightning around Shiden. As he fired the lightning bolts, Sasakibe mimicked him and unleashed some of his own from Gonryōmaru. Kensei and Kiganjō repeated their last attack, while a number of Shinigami prepared some Kidō spells.

"Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!" The group which included Aizen, Sōjun and Fujimaru released powerful torrents of blue spiritual energy. On the opposite side, another group finished gathering large spheres of fire in their hands.

"Hadō #31: Shakkahō!" The team composed of Tōsen, Miyako, Matsuri and some others fired the spell, with the many spheres merging into a wave of red flames.

"USELESS!" Arturo roared as he focused an enormous amount of reiatsu in the shape of a dome that surrounded him and nullified the attacks. The dome then expanded, with the resulting shockwave sending every attacking Shinigami flying away.

...

At the same time…

"C'mon! Everyone who can still fight should join our comrades!" A Shinigami who had bloody bandages around his head shouted to the others. Every Shinigami who was on the Seireitei side of Jidanbō's gate had either small injuries or had just been healed from more severe ones. They all roared in agreement and started to pass through the gate to join the battle against Arturo.

"Why can't we join?" Byakuya demanded to know, as he represented every Academy freshmen. "Most of us know how to handle a sword already! And while none of us has the power to defeat him, we may be able to provide a distraction to allow you to deal the finishing blow!"

"I told you already boy… The answer is no!" The Shinigami in charge once again denied their wishes. "I was ordered to keep you under watch. None of you will go there. You're the future! You'll have a lot of time to fight for Soul Society."

"W-Well… He's right, you know? We're too young to die!" Marechiyo tried to convince his colleagues to give up on the idea, but that only made everyone glare at him. "What? At least I am…"

"Real men don't back away from what they fear! Real men face fear and overcome it!" Tetsuzaemon scolded Marenoshin's son, who immediately walked two steps back and raised both hands in defense. "Cowardly fatass!"

"Hey! I'm not fat! I'm just well-built!" Marechiyo finally showed some fire in his words, but everyone around him sweatdropped as they realized he wasn't denying being a coward.

"Please! Let me go too, sir!" A nearby argument caught the Shinigami's attention. Ōko Yushima was begging his superior to allow him to join them in the battle.

"This is a real fight!" The 10th Division's 3rd Seat, a man with spiky brown hair and thin mustache, immediately scolded the green-haired Shinigami. "Sending along a weaker man puts that much more of a burden on the others."

"But, I…" As Yushima was about to answer to that statement, all the Shinigami in front of him turned around and left. Visibly shaking, Yushima punched the nearest wall.

...

All the way back to North District 79, Kusajishi…

"Hmm? It seems like something interesting is going on…" An eerie man, with long black hair and a thin, long scar running down the left side of his face, stated as he felt the confrontation between the Shinigami and the Arrancar. Even though he wasn't able to properly sense reiatsu, his heart of a warrior was beating faster by each second that passed.

He stood from the pile of corpses where he had been sitting until then, all from Hollows who had appeared before him during their arrival in Soul Society, and looked around for a while. Suddenly, a little baby girl with pink hair, who he had found and named days earlier, popped up on his right shoulder and pointed to her right, happily giggling while doing so. "Eh, I'll probably get lost on my way there, but it's definitely worth the try… Let's go, Yachiru!"

...

Back to the West Gate…

"One more!" Arturo lunged for the fallen Miyako, who was unconscious and had blood running down the right side of her face. Fortunately, someone arrived in time to save her before the Arrancar could collect her soul.

"Bushōgoma!" Kyōraku generated a large wind blade from each one of his swords and fired them towards Arturo. The wind blades joined together, forming a spinning circle of wind that was about to envelop the Vasto Lorde. However, Arturo effortlessly cut through the attack with his Fénix. While the Hollow with Shinigami powers was busy with that, Kyōraku sheathed both his wakizashi and his tachi, and picked up Miyako. "Let's take you out of here, little girl. If I'm correct…"

"Sōgyo no Kotowari!" As Kyōraku predicted, Ukitake used his Zanpakutō to absorb, amplify and redirect the wind blast that Arturo had just cut through back to him. "Good! Miyako is safe for now…"

"Such weak attempts on your part, Shinigami!" Arturo claimed, before deflecting the wind blast upwards, right to the place from where Kensei was attacking from. The Captain of the 9th Division brought both knuckle blades down, cutting through the blast much like Arturo did earlier. As he finished though, the Arrancar used Sonído to move past Kensei, using his sword to completely destroy the armor-like purple band wrap that surrounded his left arm. Not only that, the sword cut through Kensei's tendons, rendering his arm useless. Grunting in pain, the silver-haired Shinigami unwillingly dropped one of his knuckle blades into the ground.

"You… You bastard!" Kensei swung his remaining blade, aiming for the Arrancar's throat. When Arturo prepared to block the slash with his left forearm, Kensei unleashed a surprise Bakudantsuki at point-blank range, with the energy blast quickly engulfing Soul Society's number one enemy. "What do you have to say about that now, huh?"

"Nothing much, to be honest." Arturo answered, as he came out unscathed following Kensei's attack. The Arrancar swung his sword outwards, but Kiganjō appeared to block it with his huge claymore, before it could reach Kensei. The Captain of the 11th Division made use of his massive size and strength to push Arturo back, until they reached the ground once again. "I must admit that I'm surprised that you were able to push me back this far. That's a great achieve…"

"Shut it, pretty boy! I don't need your praises!" Kiganjō raised his sword and prepared to bring it down once again. "I'm the Captain of the 11th Division, Kiganjō Kenpachi! The best swordsman of my generation! That's all there is to it!"

"The best?" Arturo questioned, just before his sword clashed with Kiganjō's. To the latter's great shock, and for those watching as well, Kiganjō's claymore cracked upon contact, with a considerable chunk of its blade falling to the ground. "If you're the best, then this is just how low the Gotei 13 has fallen."

"Im-Impossible!" Kiganjō wasn't able to do much more after that word. Arturo drove his right heel into Kiganjō's right arm with so much strength that his arm and shoulder bones became completely shattered. The almighty Kenpachi fell to his knees, while he screamed in pain. Kensei rushed to take Kiganjō out of Arturo's reach, but the Arrancar knocked him away with a Hierro-enhanced backfist.

"Best swordsman… you're dead." Arturo informed the dark-skinned Captain, while he raised his sword to deliver the final blow.

"Shatter, Kyōka Suigetsu…" Aizen whispered, causing a mist to come out of his Zanpakutō and envelop Arturo.

"What is… this?" Before Arturo could figure out what the mist was, Kiganjō suddenly disappeared from his sight, something that made him lose track of his thoughts. As he looked around, everyone had disappeared, just for him to find copies of himself in their places. "Is this a trick?"

"Aizen-fukutaichō's Kyōka Suigetsu's ability!" Fujimaru shouted, as he had seen that before. "He put Arturo under an illusion!"

"Diffused reflections from mist and water to confuse the enemy…" Matsuri added, as a new ray of hope had just appeared. "With this, the Captains will be able to attack him while he's distracted."

"I can't make use of a more powerful illusion with so many people around, so…" Aizen rushed towards Arturo and slashed at his opponent, only for the Arrancar to cut him through the chest first.

"Aizen-fukutaichō!" The twins screamed in horror, as they saw Aizen fall on his back.

"This was nothing more than a magic trick. In fact, it's already disappearing…" As soon as Aizen fell, Arturo was once again able to see every Shinigami in their respective places. "Even if everyone looks the same, the fact that I fight alone means that I can cut through every single one of you without a worry. Your plan was a failure from the start, Shinigami."

"That's where you're wrong, Arturo Plateado. I could only use this particular illusion. Otherwise, I would expose my Kyōka Suigetsu's true abilities, which is something I don't want to do." Aizen closed his eyes and a very discreet smirk formed on his lips. "You're indeed right, though. This illusion would never work on you, so the next logical step was for you to wound me. That's why I let you cut me. I could've faked the injury entirely, but after an entire day of fighting, my spiritual power reserves aren't that high, so I need to keep the illusions to a minimum. I'll take a breather while the 4th Division closes my real… wound." Aizen chuckled as he stared down to his chest. "Of course, it's not as bad as it seems. You only grazed me, when in fact it seems like I'm about to die."

"Who follows?" Arturo turned around to challenge the remaining Shinigami.

"You may not understand yet, Arturo, but you belong to me now. In a few moments, I'm going to fake your death and force you to obey me. You'll help me to achieve my goals." The Aizen in everyone's line of sight suddenly coughed a lot of blood, while the real Aizen remained immobile on the ground. "I win, Arturo Plateado! Everything went just as I planned!"

"Fujimaru! Matsuri! Take Aizen back to the Advanced Relief Teams!" Seigen ordered the twins, who immediately went to pick up Aizen. As they ran back to the Advanced Relief Teams, the truth was that they were actually carrying nothing, while the real Aizen walked by their side. Yet, everyone who saw the twins also saw the nearly dead Vice-Captain on their arms.

"This is the beauty of my Kyōka Suigetsu's true ability, Kanzen Saimin." Aizen proudly told himself. "I can make everyone who has seen me release my Shikai believe whatever I want. It's a really fitting name for this ability, as it is really complete hypnosis. And… over the last couple of weeks, I was finally able to get everyone in Seireitei under that hypnosis."

"Let us pass please!" Fujimaru shouted as he and Matsuri passed through the gate. With the 4th Division's barracks already filled with injured people, Unohana had ordered for an improvised relief station to be set up near the West Gate. There were so many people on the inside being treated by the Shinigami of the 4th Division that they had a hard time moving.

"Even the individual strong enough to make Genryūsai Yamamoto truly fear for Soul Society's existence is under my control, now…" Aizen moved his right hand to the inside of his robes, to take out a small cylindrical container which had a crystal-like sphere that greatly resembled one that Rangiku once possessed. "I believe it's time to proceed to the next phase…"

"What is this?" Gin questioned himself, as he saw Fujimaru and Matsuri carrying what seemed to be an invisible man and everyone around them acting like they were actually carrying something. Even the other students, who were near him, seemed to believe that. "Fujimaru must have hit me a bit too hard, because I'm… wait just a minute!" Gin couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing. With brown hair, wearing glasses and carrying something that so closely resembled Rangiku's "sphere of wishes", the Shinigami he had been looking for was closely following Matsuri and Fujimaru. He then put the container back on its place and laid on the ground, where the invisible man was supposed to be, unaware that there was actually one person who had never seen him release his Shikai. "That's him!"

"Let's go back, Fujimaru!" Matsuri told to her brother, before quickly looking to the Shinigami who was going to treat Aizen. "Please, take good care of him."

...

"Sorry for the delay, Yamamoto-sōtaichō." Tessai Tsukabishi excused himself, as soon as he arrived in the battlefield along with Hachigen Ushōda, and four other members of the Kidō Corps, each one carrying a golden spear. "This procedure hasn't been done in a while."

"I'm aware of it." Yamamoto told him, as he had been the last one to use the intended technique. The Captain Commander looked to his left, so he could see Konoka, the wielder of the Shisuikyō. "Arturo's spiritual power hasn't been increasing that much with the last few deaths. I believe the mirror is starting to take effect."

"I hope it doesn't take that much longer…" Tessai thought, with a lump forming on his throat.

"Are you feeling alright, Konoka?" Urahara questioned the redhead, with worry all over his face. Konoka was sweating quite a lot, while the mirror continued to float in front of her.

"Yes… I can still go on." She answered.

"At least someone doesn't run with his tail between his legs…" Arturo complimented Seigen in his own way, as he saw the Royal Guard officer once again stepping in front of him to challenge him. "I've been waiting for a decent kill for quite a time."

"There's no point in running. If we don't defeat you here, then we're all going to die anyway." Seigen shifted his position, so that he could hold the handle of Shiden with both hands. "Just let me ask you… Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?" Arturo asked, as if he failed to realize what Seigen was referring to. "A Shinigami's function is to get rid of Hollows, which means that Hollows are the greatest enemies of the Shinigami. If that's how it is, I guess the reverse can be applied as well. Shinigami are the greatest enemies of the Hollows. Isn't that enough?"

"So, you say this campaign of yours is happening… just because?" The surprised Seigen's eyes widened for a short moment, before he shook his head. "No… I think you're hiding something. I find it weird that someone like you is doing all this without a motive."

"You want a motive?" Arturo questioned, with a bit more serious expression. "I just gave you one. Again… Isn't that enough? And why are you so interested all of a sudden? Are you so desperate that you're now relying on smooth talk to convince me to walk away?"

"Not really… I just think there are many things that could be improved. Just because things are balanced, it doesn't mean they are balanced in the right way. I…" Seigen stopped for a moment and only restarted after he shrugged. "I think I know your real motive, but if this is the way you want to settle things… Shall we?"

"You're not a god. Don't talk like you know everything." Arturo started to run in Seigen's direction and swung his sword down. The Royal Guard officer, having seen what happened to Kiganjō's claymore, sidestepped the slash instead of blocking it. The redhead tried to use Hakuda instead, so he jumped and aimed a kick to the right side of the Arrancar's neck, with the latter allowing him to hit him. Seigen cringed as a stinging pain travelled up his left leg, all because of Arturo's hard Hierro. As he tried to gain some distance, Arturo grabbed him by his ankle, stopping him from going away.

"Takaoni!" Kyōraku announced as he came down from above both Seigen and Arturo. The Arrancar threw Seigen skyward so that he could block the cross slash of both of Kyōraku's swords. To Arturo's surprise, Kyōraku was able to handle the Arrancar's strength. "I guess I should explain… In Takaoni, whoever is higher up wins."

"Higher up? Then that means…" Arturo looked up, but it was already too late. Seigen, who was the one who was higher up of the three, brought his sword down, cutting through the Hierro on Arturo's back. Furious by being wounded, Arturo kicked Kyōraku away and turned around to swing his sword towards Seigen, who had no choice but to block with Shiden. Surprisingly, Shiden withstood the cutting power of Fénix. "Another trick? How is this possible?"

"I shouldn't be able to hold on against his Zanpakutō at this point! Takaoni is over after all…" Seigen's eyes widened as he sensed a very familiar reiatsu increasing. Looking slightly to the side, Seigen found Konoka surrounded in a pink reiatsu outline. "Konoka?"

"No! My power!" Arturo immediately realized that it was the Shisuikyō that was weakening him, so he kicked Seigen away and started to move towards Konoka. "Disgusting flea! You were talking all that trash just to buy some more time for that thing to steal my power!"

Any action they had planned was rendered useless, as the Arrancar increased his reiatsu to such a point that it was enough to blow them both away. So eager to destroy the mirror, Arturo failed to notice the last line of defense.

"Sing, Benihime!" Urahara swung his sword, unleashing a strong crimson-coloured energy blast shaped in the arc of the sword's swing. Arturo, who was still in the middle of a straightforward Sonído movement, was only able to block the blast with his Fénix and parry it away with some difficulty. The Arrancar then attempted a piercing blow in Konoka's direction more than in Urahara's, but the ex-Shinigami raised a hexagonal-shaped crimson barrier in front of Benihime, which was able to withstand the force of Arturo's attack. "That's my Chikasume no Tate."

"How… How were you able to block my attack?" Arturo asked, even though he knew the truth already. However, it was just too frustrating for him to admit it.

"The greater the power, the harder it is to notice variations on it. Perhaps you did, perhaps you didn't… But there was a moment when the energy you gained from killing Shinigami started to be immediately nullified by the Shisuikyō. And since then, you haven't killed anymore Shinigami, so your energy has been decreasing continuously." Urahara said out loud what Arturo already knew. "Plus, each time you increase your reiatsu to attack, the faster that energy is drained by the mirror. And, of course, Konoka-san's own reiatsu increase has helped as well."

"That means we can do it!" Fujimaru realized, immediately turning to his sister. "We can win!"

"Don't relax now!" Yamamoto warned everyone. "Keep your focus until it's over!"

"Bring your shield down, Kisuke!" Yoruichi ordered and her friend immediately complied. The other ex-captain charged forward, until she successfully drove the same sphere of yellow energy she had tried to use earlier into Arturo's abdominal region. The Arrancar was sent dragging a good distance across the ground. As soon as he stopped, both Ukitake and Kyōraku came from above, bringing down each of their pairs of swords.

"Takaoni…" At the same height, both Captains had the same power increase, which could've caused great damage if Arturo didn't fly away into the sky. The impact of the four swords opened a large crater, which caused Arturo to growl lowly as he stared at it from above.

"No! If this keeps up, I'll…" Whatever Arturo was about to say remained unknown, as he was in complete shock by seeing a golden spear hit his left arm. Instead of hurting him though, the spear's blade released sparkling yellow energy, which enveloped his arm up to the elbow. Looking down, he saw that the one who had thrown the spear had been Ginrei Kuchiki. "No…You wouldn't dare to seal me!"

"A seal?" The surprised Matsuri questioned to whoever could listen to her. Yoruichi, who had landed near the twins after her last attack on Arturo, nodded to answer her question. "So that was the plan all along? Weaken him to the point we could seal him?"

"Not quite. We're not sure if the seal will hold on, because of the amount of spiritual power he possessed." Yoruichi admitted, while Sōjun threw the second spear, locking his left leg up to the knee. "He may have lost a great amount of energy now, but there's the chance that he will regain it with time. Since his body has the memory of that extraordinary amount of power, it may happen naturally. Once it reaches a certain amount, the seal will break and he will be released. We're not sure if this scenario is possible, but it might be."

"So, what are you going to do to him?" Fujimaru asked, while Hachigen Ushōda sent the third spear towards the right arm. Unlike the others, instead of launching the spear, Hachigen sent it flying with what appeared to be a form of telekinesis.

"The restraining power of this seal is very high, even before it is completed." Yoruichi revealed, while they watched Tessai positioning the last spear on the Arrancar's right leg, in a similar way to the technique used by Hachigen. "Before the seal is completed, we're going to finish him in two strikes!"

"In two strikes?" The confused twins asked, unable to believe that anything less than a combined assault from everyone could take Arturo down now, before they noticed that Yoruichi had pointed to their right.

"Sting All Enemies to Death, Suzumebachi!" Suì-Fēng quickly transformed her sword into the black and gold gauntlet with a stinger-like blade on the middle finger, before charging in Arturo's direction.

"Nigeki Kessatsu is just what it sounds. It's a way to kill in two strikes. If Suì-Fēng strikes the same point twice with Suzumebachi, it's over. And if you look carefully…" Yoruichi didn't even need to tell them to do so, as their eyes were fixed on the Candidate 3rd Seat of the 2nd Division and her target. "With both arms and legs spread to the side, Arturo's upper body is an easy target."

"Hōmonka…" Suì-Fēng announced the first strike, as soon as she stabbed Arturo in the chest with her stinger. Even though the wound wasn't deep at all, much because of the Arrancar's Hierro, a butterfly-shaped black stamp spread from the center of it. "Nigeki Kessatsu!"

"YOU WON'T!" Arturo roared, as he understood what the technique meant just by its name. He pulled out as much spiritual power as possible, so that he could break his right arm free from its respective spear. The yellow energy that surrounded his forearm broke apart, allowing him to grab and crush Suì-Fēng's Suzumebachi, along with her right middle finger. The young assassin let out a horrible scream of pain that made the twins' hearts fall to the ground.

"SUÌ-FĒNG!" Fujimaru immediately darted forward to help the girl and Matsuri was about to do so as well, but Yoruichi stopped the latter by pulling her by her shoulder.

"You're actually smarter than that idiot of a brother of yours, so don't mimic him!" Yoruichi ordered, before she disappeared in a long Shunpo. In very fast motion, she appeared between her bodyguard and Arturo and took her away from there in another Shunpo, which also served to intercept Fujimaru and push him back to where he originally was.

"Bakudō #4: Hainawa!" Sōjun generated a crackling yellow energy rope within his hands and used it to entangle Arturo's free arm, as soon as Yoruichi rescued Suì-Fēng.

"Bakudō #4: Hainawa!" Ginrei performed the same spell as his son, but this rope was used to wrap the Arrancar's body. "Carriage of Thunder, Bridge of a Spinning Wheel, with Light Divide this into Six!" Ginrei quickly recited the incantation, causing six beams of light to form from the previously created Hainawa. "Bakudō #61: Rikujōkōrō!"

"Bakudō #63…" Hachigen lifted his right palm and closed into a fist, causing a thick rope of yellow energy to descend from the sky and completely wrap Arturo's upper body, even forming knots around the six beams of light. "Sajō Sabaku!"

"Bakudō #79: Kuyō Shibari!" Tessai summoned eight black holes with purple outlines around Arturo. Those black holes started to emit spiritual energy in the personal space surrounding the Arrancar, with a ninth black hole manifesting in the center of his chest, right in front of his Hollow hole. "This along with the seal should hold him long enough."

"So you had a plan B…" Fujimaru realized, while he shifted his attention between what was happening with the Arrancar and Yoruichi's first aid treatment to Suì-Fēng. His attention shifted to a third thing, as a loud and long thunderclap sounded from above. The sky was covered in dark clouds, even though nothing had indicated that such an atmospheric change would happen. "What the hell happened to the sky?"

"That is the true plan B!" Yoruichi started to reveal, while Sasakibe fell to his knees, many meters away from the former captain of the 2nd Division and the twins.

"I put all… the spiritual power… I… I could on… making those…" Sasakibe panted heavily, after he used Gonryōmaru to create the dark clouds. It was just a matter of seconds for a heavy rainstorm to start, with continuous thunderclaps echoing throughout the entire Soul Society.

"You did a very good job, Sasakibe. Rest for now." Yamamoto allowed, before he turned to the one who could capitalize on such weather conditions. "Suzunami!"

"I see… those clouds are all filled with natural lightning." Seigen immediately realized what he had to do, so he raised Shiden up to the sky and sent all the electric essence he still could release towards the dark thunderclouds.

"That is… You did that earlier!" Arturo remembered the falling lightning bolt attack from earlier and was quick to understand how much worse this one would be. The high-ranking officers of the 6th Division and Kidō Corps decided that the right moment to flee from the soon to be impact area had arrived. "There were no clouds in the sky earlier, but the attack still had considerable strength. With so many clouds here now… Oh no…"

"Hurry… Seigen…" Konoka asked him, as she was becoming dangerously pale from the effort of using the Shisuikyō.

"Hang on, Konoka! It won't take long now!" Seigen told her, as he was also making a great effort to make sure the technique succeeded. With all the lightning finally focused on a single point, Seigen only had to let it fall. "SHIDEN RAIKŌ!"

The first Shiden Raikō wasn't even half of this one. The combined efforts of Seigen and Sasakibe created a lightning bolt so massive that everyone who was able to still stand had to raise a barrier to protect themselves. Over all those singular barriers, the Kidō Corps members set many more, so that they could all survive the overly destructive impact of Seigen's technique. As the shockwaves caused by the impact stopped, a mushroom cloud emerged, blocking the visibility of the Shinigami for a while.

"I think it should be more or less safe now." Tessai revealed after some minutes of probing the area outside of the barriers with Kidō. The barriers finally came down, allowing the Shinigami to freely walk around. Even the heavy rainstorm had stopped during that time. "Is everyone alright? While I'm not Unohana-taichō, I can start to heal those in major need."

"The same services are also offered by me." Hachigen added. Overall, there were still many injured on the battlefield: Kensei and Kiganjō both remained there until the end of the battle, even though both of them were unable to use one arm each; Suì-Fēng had a broken finger, with the bones probably as crushed as Kiganjō's were; Tōsen and Komamura had some bruises but were otherwise all right, even though that no one dared to examine the latter; Miyako had been knocked unconscious after being hit in the head; and some of Seigen's wounds which had been healed by Chikane and Seinosuke had reopened during the battle; along with many nameless Shinigami who were able to survive somehow.

"You did a great job, Seigen-sama!" Matsuri complimented her father, who answered with a tired smile, but still the kindest one he had ever shown. The blond girl then turned to compliment her aunt as well. "You were also grea… K-Konoka-sama?"

"Konoka-sama!" Startled by the sudden change in the tone of his sister's voice, Fujimaru quickly turned around, still in time to see Konoka's eyes rolling into the back of her head, before she fell backwards.

"Konoka!" Seigen quickly rushed to her side and lifted her head, but she didn't show any signs of life. Desperate, the Captain turned to the one who could help him the most. "Tessai! Please, heal… What's with that face? C'mon! Do something!"

"Suzunami-dono…" Tessai started to speak, only to be interrupted by the sound of the Shisuikyō, which had been floating until then, falling to the ground. That only made Tessai, Yoruichi and Urahara's expressions to become even more dejected. Fujimaru even noticed a look of disgust in Suì-Fēng's eyes, before she looked away from the twins. "The truth is that Konoka…"

"Eheheheh… AHAHAHAHAHAH!" Tessai was once again interrupted, this time by a hysterical laugh combined with a familiar reiatsu which was increasing very slowly, but increasing nonetheless. As the smoke raised by the last Shiden Raikō started to clear away a bit more, Arturo stepped forward with a crazed look in his eyes. Covered in burn marks, his clothes ripped to shreds after the last explosion and parts of his broken mask missing, all that mattered was that he was still alive nevertheless. "It appears I'm victorious after all... YOU LOSE, SHINIGAMI!"

...

Author's notes: No screen time for Ichigo in this chapter, but he returns in part 4, which is the close of chapter 1. Then we dive into other plot lines in the arc.

Also, there was a new attack described in this part. The information follows below:

- Shinkodama - The yellow energy sphere used by Yoruichi, first seen in the series when Yoruichi pushed Sui-Feng down the Sōkyoku Hill; According to Blade Battlers, this is an attack version of Hanki. However, Hanatareshi Yabou calls it Shinkodama... In the end, I prefer to have a different name for each version, so I went with Shinkodama for this one.


End file.
